Hello, moviegoers! After an outstanding hiatus, your favourite movie critic is back
with yet another movie review! What's more, as to celebrate, I am bringing a film
which is not a stinking mound of crap (as it would be usually the case).

With no more delays, enter Casablanca!

Casablanca is a wartime romance set during WWII. The city of Casablanca has become
neutral ground for all sort of refugees, smugglers, spies and all sort of otherwise
interesting people. It is in this place where Rick, an ex-idealist who has gone sour
with the years, operates a bar where all sort of illegal activities are hosted.

The main conflict of the film is kicked into motion when Victor Lazlo, an anti Nazi
Resistence Leader, arrives to Casablanca with the Gestapo breathing down his neck.
With him, is Ilsa, her wife... and also the backstabby bitch who let Rick down in the
past.

Rick happens to posses the means for allowing Lazlo and Ilsa safe passage, so they can
disappear from Casablanca and escape the Gestapo and continue their efforts as Resistence leaders... but what will Rick do?

Take his revenge on Lazlo for stealing his backstabby bitch... ahem, his girlfriend...
and let the nazies get them both, and to the hell with good honorable causes?

Let Lazlo take safe passage in exchange for the bitch (I mean, Ilsa)?

Swallow his pride and let them both through for the better good?

I am sure you all know which option I wanted Rick to pick, but I disgres...

The production of this movie is just excellent. The scenery is athmospheric and well
placed, as they just don't do anymore. Rick's perdition hellhole is carefully crafted
and is in fact the sort of disreputable club I'd have a bourbon in. The characters in
Casablanca are plenty, and none of them seems to lack a purpose. Even small characters
who exist only to add color to the movie do an excellent job at what they do. We are
treated with a corrupt police officer (one of the best roles of the film), a crime
lord which operates quite openly, an Italian officer who'd do anything to please his
German masters (likely including the worst things you are imagining right now)...

Rick himself is a very interesting character, playing neutral to both the nazies and
their enemies. His most defining characteristic is that he is not willing to side with
anybody who is not himself, but the events in the film will test his resolve... Rick
is a good guy gone sour who does not give a damn for anybody anymore. He is the sort
of person I want to be when I grow up and my girlfriend stabs me in the back.

Lazlo is a bit of the opposite: he is an idealist who will stop at nothing to get the
nazies screwed. He is also such a good guy and holds so high moral grounds that he is
willing to pardon and understand his wife's transgressions. He is so good and heroic
he makes me puke... but the performance is stellar, and that you have to admit.

Then there is Ilsa, which is a bit of a McGuffin. She is the one whose knife Rick
still has stuck in his back, the one Rick does not know if he wants back or sent away,
and the main dilemma enhancer in the film. She is torn because she is a backstabby
bitch, and she knows she is a backstabby bitch, and that pains her. But she is a
repentless backstabby bitch, and nothing she says or does will ever fix the fact she
likes stabbing people in the back when they are the most vulnerable and disappearing
with another man.

The corrupt police officer I mentioned earlier deserves an honorable mention. He is
playing both ends of the war towards the middle, taking bribes from every body... and
the nazies are the best payers right now. I think the best way to describe is to
reproduce one of his scenes:

"Why are you closing my bar?"
"I am shocked, shocked! - from learning there is an illegal gambling den here!" [A croupier shows up and hands the officer a fistful money] "Your winnings, sir"
"Oh, thank you very much!"

If you have not watched this movie yet, go watch it, because they no longer make them
like this anymore!


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SPOILERS!!!!

If you have not watched this movie yet, go watch it, because they no longer mak
them
like this anymore!

They sure don't!!!

My all-time favorite movie. My take on Ilsa is a little more forgiving
than yours, though. She thought her husband was dead and found herself
alone in a war-torn country. She later found out that her husband was not dead. There she made a decision that one might expect, but was not one
that she made Rick completely aware of.

Sydney Greenstreet played the owner of the Blue Parrot, Peter Lorre played the smuggler of the letters of transit, and Paul Henreid was Lazlo.

Greenstreet and Lorre had worked together with Bogart at least once before
(The Maltese Falcon (1941), another great movie and Greenstreet's on-screen debut), and would work together again after. I was always disappointed
that Bogart and Henreid never worked together again, though. Henreid would later go on to do some directing, including some episodes of the Alfred Hitchock TV show.

The director, Michael Curtiz, directed several great movies. One of his
rare horror movies, Dr. X, included Fay Wray's first on-screen scream,
before she went on to star in King Kong. :) He also directed the original version of Mystery of the Wax Museum (also staring Wray), a movie that would
be remade several years later as a Vincent Price thriller called House of
Wax. Both of these movies were also done in color, very rare at the time.

I am not a big fan of modern-day horror flicks, but I really like both of these. I usually try to watch one, or both, of them around Halloween each year.


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Re: Casablanca (1942)
By: Dumas Walker to ARELOR on Thu Jan 06 2022 05:10 pm

My all-time favorite movie. My take on Ilsa is a little more forgiving
than yours, though. She thought her husband was dead and found herself alone in a war-torn country. She later found out that her husband was not dead. There she made a decision that one might expect, but was not one
that she made Rick completely aware of.

Here is the thing: Ilsa could have been straight about the issue with Rick. Instead, she made him wait for her in vain at the train station just as the nazies rolled in, and her only justification was a note left to the piano player, with a message which pretty much could have been summarized as "Fuck you, Rick."

I think the most sane character in the whole film was Sam, because he is the one who recognizes early on that Ilsa is bad luck for Rick.


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Re: Casablanca (1942)
By: Arelor to Dumas Walker on Fri Jan 07 2022 12:48 pm

Instead, she made him wait for her in vain at the train station just as the nazies rolled in, and her only justification was a note left to the piano player, with a message which pretty much could have been summarized as "Fuck you, Rick."

I think the most sane character in the whole film was Sam, because he is the one who recognizes early on that Ilsa is bad luck for Rick.

are these reviews or spoilers!! i was almost going to watch it but then i read the end.

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Hello MRO!

** On Friday 07.01.22 - 20:57, MRO wrote to Arelor:

Instead, she made him wait for her in vain at the train
station just as the nazies rolled in, and her only
justification was a note left to the piano player..

I think the most sane character in the whole film was Sam,
because he is the one who recognizes early on that Ilsa is
bad luck for Rick.

are these reviews or spoilers!! i was almost going to watch
it but then i read the end.

The journey is still pretty good. People rewatch these
classics all the time. I don't think they expect the story to
change. ;)


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SPOILERS!!!

Here is the thing: Ilsa could have been straight about the issue with Rick. Instead, she made him wait for her in vain at the train station just as the nazies rolled in, and her only justification was a note left to the piano player, with a message which pretty much could have been summarized as "Fuck you, Rick."

That is one part of the movie I have never been sure of. I have always
taken those scenes, and things said later, to mean she didn't find out that Victor was alive until after she and Rick made their plans to leave Paris. Something was eating at her at the cafe before, but I wondered if that was
more a reluctance to leave Paris and Europe just in case her husband was
still alive.

I think the most sane character in the whole film was Sam, because he is the one who recognizes early on that Ilsa is bad luck for Rick.

Yes, I was always disappointed that Rick left Sam behind as part of the
terms of sale of the Cafe American and that he didn't go with him and
Reynard at the end. He has kept Rick out of trouble before, and I would suspect probably more than was made explicit during the movie.


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Instead, she made him wait for her in vain at the train station just as the
nazies rolled in, and her only justification was a note left to the piano player, with a message which pretty much could have been summarized as "Fuc
you, Rick."

I think the most sane character in the whole film was Sam, because he is th
one who recognizes early on that Ilsa is bad luck for Rick.

are these reviews or spoilers!! i was almost going to watch it but then i read
he end.

That actually is not the end but I get your point. :) I have been trying
to preface my messages with a warning at the top.


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Re: Casablanca (1942)
By: MRO to Arelor on Fri Jan 07 2022 08:57 pm

Re: Casablanca (1942)
By: Arelor to Dumas Walker on Fri Jan 07 2022 12:48 pm

Instead, she made him wait for her in vain at the train station just as t nazies rolled in, and her only justification was a note left to the piano player, with a message which pretty much could have been summarized as "F you, Rick."

I think the most sane character in the whole film was Sam, because he is one who recognizes early on that Ilsa is bad luck for Rick.

are these reviews or spoilers!! i was almost going to watch it but then i re the end.

Oh, I didn't blow the end. ALl these facts are extablished quite early in the movie.

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Re: Casablanca (1942)
By: Dumas Walker to ARELOR on Sat Jan 08 2022 09:52 am

SPOILERS!!!

Here is the thing: Ilsa could have been straight about the issue with Rick Instead, she made him wait for her in vain at the train station just as th nazies rolled in, and her only justification was a note left to the piano player, with a message which pretty much could have been summarized as "Fu you, Rick."

That is one part of the movie I have never been sure of. I have always taken those scenes, and things said later, to mean she didn't find out that Victor was alive until after she and Rick made their plans to leave Paris. Something was eating at her at the cafe before, but I wondered if that was more a reluctance to leave Paris and Europe just in case her husband was still alive.

I think the most sane character in the whole film was Sam, because he is t one who recognizes early on that Ilsa is bad luck for Rick.

Yes, I was always disappointed that Rick left Sam behind as part of the terms of sale of the Cafe American and that he didn't go with him and Reynard at the end. He has kept Rick out of trouble before, and I would suspect probably more than was made explicit during the movie.

* SLMR 2.1a * TAXES: your money spent for things you wouldn't buy.

SPOILERS!!

I think it is mentioned in the film that Ilsa knew Lazlo was alive in the cafe scene. SHe had been told by a resistence member. That is whay she was doubtful when RIck was talking about marriage and the reason why she stabbed him in the back in the train station.

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Re: Casablanca (1942)
By: Ogg to MRO on Sat Jan 08 2022 09:06 am

Instead, she made him wait for her in vain at the train
station just as the nazies rolled in, and her only
justification was a note left to the piano player..

Rick was doomed to be a loner.
there are two famous lines that were attributed to the movie but were never actually spoken in the movie.


... A Mom takes 20 years to make a man of her son, another woman makes a fool of him in twenty minutes.

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Hello Denn!

** On Saturday 08.01.22 - 23:23, Denn wrote to Ogg:

there are two famous lines that were attributed to the movie but were
never actually spoken in the movie.

And they are.. (?)


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there are two famous lines that were attributed to the movie but were never actually spoken in the movie.

And they are.. (?)

"Play it again, Sam," is one of them.


* SLMR 2.1a * A restless eye across a weary room...

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Re: Casablanca (1942)
By: Ogg to Denn on Fri Jan 21 2022 06:42 pm

there are two famous lines that were attributed to the movie but were
never actually spoken in the movie.

And they are.. (?)

I believe one of those lines is "Play it again, Sam". I don't know what the other line is.

Nightfox

Hello Nightfox!

** On Saturday 22.01.22 - 10:31, Nightfox wrote to Ogg:

there are two famous lines that were attributed to the movie but were
never actually spoken in the movie.

And they are.. (?)

I believe one of those lines is "Play it again, Sam". I
don't know what the other line is.

Ah.. but something close to it *is* said, even twice!
Personally, I think it's silly for people to get all flustered
and bothered with something that was never said exactly a
certain way. ;)



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Hello Dumas Walker!

** On Saturday 22.01.22 - 11:26, Dumas Walker wrote to OGG:

And they are.. (?)

"Play it again, Sam," is one of them.

I caved in and did the google-thing. The actual line is VERY
close to that. It was even said twice in the film. As far as
I'm concerned that addition of the word "again" doesn't make it
a bad misquote at all.





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Re: Casablanca (1942)
By: Ogg to Nightfox on Sat Jan 22 2022 07:33 pm

I believe one of those lines is "Play it again, Sam". I
don't know what the other line is.

Ah.. but something close to it *is* said, even twice!
Personally, I think it's silly for people to get all flustered
and bothered with something that was never said exactly a
certain way. ;)

I don't know if it's that people are bothered. It's an old movie, and after a while, I think it has just been misquoted, and the misquote has become a popular misquote.

Nightfox